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President Trump Finally Signs Stimulus Bill; U.S. Surpasses 19 Million COVID-19 Cases; Authorities Identify Nashville Bomber; Chinese Journalist Sentenced To Four Years For Wuhan Reporting; European Launches Mass Vaccination Program As Countries Race To Contain New Variant; Spain Begins First Vaccination For COVID-19; Perdue, Loeffler Praise Trump For Signing COVID Aid; Democrats Warnock & Ossoff Focusing On COVID Aid; California Hospitals Rapidly Running Out Of Room. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 28, 2020 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I am Michael Holmes. This is "CNN Newsroom." I appreciate your company.

Our top story this hour, almost a week after calling it a disgrace, President Trump has finally signed the sweeping COVID relief package and government funding bill that so many Americans have been waiting for. But, of course, there are strings attached.

In a statement, the president said he only approved the bill after getting the U.S. Senate to agree to consider increasing the amount of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000, which of course is what Democrats have been pushing for all along.

The president has also vowed to send what he is calling a red lined version of the bill back to Congress asking for "wasteful items to be removed." He also claims the Senate will take up legislation that starts an investigation into voter fraud in the presidential election even though there is no evidence of any such voter fraud, in any meaningful way.

Now, the president's reluctant signature game after unemployment benefits for more than 12 million Americans expired on Saturday and ahead of a government shutdown that would have kicked in on Tuesday. President Trump now back at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's been traveling with the president, reports from West Palm Beach, Florida.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, five days after President Trump threw billions of dollars of desperately needed coronavirus relief until limbo by suggesting he may not sign a massive piece of legislation passed by Congress, the president has now signed that legislation.

The president signing that $2.3 trillion dollar spending bill that includes $900 billion in coronavirus relief on Sunday night here in south Florida.

The president though, only signing this legislation after unemployment benefits for more than 12 million Americans lapsed on Saturday night after the president did not sign the legislation then. And the president's signature, also comes after he threw millions of Americans into financial uncertainty by delaying signing this piece of legislation.

Those Americans who are counting on those $600 stimulus checks to soon be arriving, they will now have to wait longer for those stimulus checks. And then, of course, there are the millions of businesses that we're counting on additional PPP funds to come through.

Now, they will be coming through, but only after a period of five days of uncertainty here. The president and explaining why he finally signed this legislation, he says this in a statement released by the White House. "I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, and money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more."

The Senate, he says, will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeal Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud. Now, those last two items, it's really not clear what the president is talking about because there isn't stand-alone specific legislation to accomplish those goals.

But there is a piece of legislation being advanced by House Democrats on Monday that would increase those $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 in accordance with the president's demands. And it appears that the president has now secured a commitment from the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, to bring that legislation to the floor.

Whether it actually passes though is another matter given that a number of Republicans remain opposed to $2,000 stimulus checks. But regardless, this only comes because the president had checked out of governing after the election.

For weeks after the election, as these negotiations were underway, and it was only after Congress passed this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, and we should say with the endorsement of the Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, who was negotiating on the president's behalf.

It was only after that legislation passed that the president began to raise his objections. And so, all the president accomplished was thinking more Americans into financial uncertainty at a time when we have 20 plus million Americans unemployed, and all of this, of course, during the holiday season. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

[02:04:52] HOLMES: Let's go now to Los Angeles and CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to see you Ron. So, the president, he may have signed now but not signing that bill on Saturday triggered some real world impacts for millions of Americans. Why do you think the president let this happen at all especially, of course, as he played golf all weekend?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think, you know, the initial motivation seems to be a desire to lash out at both Democrats and Republicans who he felt, on the Republicans side, were not fighting for him hard enough.

And look, he has enjoyed chaos throughout his presidency. I mean, he has believed that he benefits from chaos. But I thought, you know, what gave away the switch was the fact that he tweeted. A little before he tweeted that he was going to sign the bill, he tweeted that he was going to Georgia on January 4th.

And I would bet that he was getting an earful from Republican senators saying this level of disruption, the destruction of the benefits, the possibility of a government shutdown was a very dangerous game he was playing with those two Senate seats that will decide control of the Senate. And I thought to the fact that he said he's going to Georgia right before he said he was signing this bill was probably not coincidental.

HOLMES: Yes. And, you know, what's crazy about the situation I guess is the president's own team negotiated the bill. You had Democrats saying, yes, the president's right, let's increase the amount to $2,000. Republicans refusing to do so. So, Republicans blocked $2,000 checks, but now will be forced to say, yes, maybe. I mean, it's just bizarro world.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, it is of a piece though, right. I mean, the president was disengaged from this throughout. You know, he did not have an ore in the water and trying to bring this to completion. And it's very similar to what we've seen, this is on the economic side. It's very similar to what we see on the public health side.

But really, you know, since some at point in the summer, they have essentially checked out of the public eye, particularly after the election, and left Americans fundamentally on their own -- left states on their own trying to deal with hospitals that are overrun. Trying to deal with the death toll that now amounts to a 9/11 or a Pearl Harbor a day.

So, the fact that he, you know, was disengaged from this attempt to find an economic solution, I think, is totally of a piece with his really AWOL behavior on the public health challenge as well a president who essentially has walked away from his job.

HOLMES: Yes. It's a good point. Yes, you and I both often spoken about how congressional Republican have stayed mute as they, you know, watched the Trump wrecking ball swing. But, you know, it's notable (ph) more and more are speaking out in recent days with some pretty harsh words.

I mean, Pat Toomey was saying Trump would be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allowed this thing to expire. Congressman Kinzinger said that the president is trying to burn the place down on the way out because he can't handle losing. It's interesting that that is starting to happen, but is it too little too late?

BROWNSTEIN: It's too little and it's too late. I mean, those are familiar voices. Toomey has been one, you know, who has been a little more critical, obviously, one of the last Republicans in a state that has voted mostly Democratic in presidential elections in this (inaudible) Kinzinger has been a lone voice in the House.

I mean, really, the big story is, I mean, if you put all of the pieces together since the election, the disengagement on the pandemic, the 11-59 effort to torpedo the spill. The persistent efforts to subvert the election. The calls on the Justice Department to investigate his political rivals.

And again, here, asking the Senate to pursue this nonexistent election fraud. And then these pardons to his cronies and people who are directly implicated and shielding him from the Mueller investigation. I think if you add all this up, Michael, it looks -- you probably know this better than I.

It looks like the final hours of some tin pot dictatorship. I mean, a Noriega or a Somoza or Ceausescu. The walls are closing in, the strongman knows that the clock is ticking, he is addled, he is angry, he is vengeful, he is lashing out.

And I think it's just embarrassing. I mean, the U.S. sends people all over the world trying to teach countries how to stand up a democracy. And here we are, watching ours being torn down day by day mostly with silence from Republicans in Congress.

HOLMES: Ron Brownstein there. Now, the U.S. surpassed 19 million known cases of the coronavirus over the weekend. That is according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S., of course, as we all know, has the most cases in the world by far. Almost double, in fact, that of the country with the second most, which is India.

Vaccinations are entering their third week. That is the good news. The latest figures show nearly 2 million Americans have already received their first dose. And while there are lags in reporting, it looks like the U.S. will fall short of its goal to inoculate 20 million people by the end of the year.

[02:09:52]

Meanwhile, hospitalizations at near record levels. More than 118,000 people spent Sunday in hospital with the virus, according to the COVID Tracking Project. It's the 26th straight day with more than 100,000 people in hospital with COVID.

And health experts are bracing for yet another surge in COVID cases similar to the spikes following other U.S. holidays.

CNN's Alison Kosik with more now from New York.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that December is now the deadliest month in the United States since the pandemic began. More than 63,500 people in the U.S. alone have died from COVID.

California, really being hit hard. It is facing the worst COVID spread of new cases in the U.S. The San Joaquin Valley and southern California regions both have zero percent ICU capacity, that's according to a press release from the California Department of Health.

Some good news though in Michigan. Michigan's COVID-19 hospitalizations and daily coronavirus associated deaths have continued to decline since mid-December. That is according to the states COVID-19 dashboard and hospital bed tracking web page.

And as vaccines continue to be administered, health officials are saying it's important to remain vigilant, to wear your mask, and remain socially distanced. But, they are bracing for what could be coming next. Despite warnings from health officials to stay home during the holidays, millions of people traveled in the days around Christmas.

And now, it looks like health experts are projecting another spike in the number of coronavirus cases. And with January's COVID-19 associated deaths, they are projecting the number to be nightmarish. Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.

HOLMES (on camera): The holiday travel season in full swing over the weekend, despite the CDC urging people to stay home. In fact, the busiest airports in the world is right here in Atlanta. Hartsville- Jackson was projecting Sunday as its busiest day of the Christmas season. The TSA is screening more than 1.1 million people at U.S. airports just on Saturday, and roughly 7 million people last week.

According to AAA, abound 85 million Americans may travel between the dates of December 23rd and January 3rd. CNN's Dana Bash asked the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, about holiday travel and the potential impact on the pandemic in the U.S. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What should we expect in terms of a post-Christmas COVID surge when you look at those numbers?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, again, there is no guarantee it will happen but there certainly is a danger of that. When you travel, you see pictures on the TV screens, Dana, of people at airports crowded in lines, trying to stay physically separated, but it's so difficult to do that.

And that generally is followed when people get to the destination they want to be, that you are going to have mixing of household people at a dinner or at a social function, those are the things that naturally happen. And as much as we advise against it nonetheless, it happens. And that is one of the reasons why we are concerned about that being a real risk situation for the spread of infection.

BASH: The U.S. will now require travelers from the U.K. to test negative before arriving in the U.S., but that policy does not go into effect until tomorrow and we've known about this new virus variant in the U.K. for a couple of weeks. Was it a mistake to not implement this rule before the Christmas travel boom?

FAUCI: You know, Dana, I'm not going to say it was a mistake or not. Obviously, I think the move to put some form of restriction on travel and restriction can either be blocking out travel completely was the decision was made, not do that.

But I think it's prudent and a good idea to do some form of testing and not let somebody on the plane from the U.K. unless they have a documented negative COVID-19 test. So, I agree with that. I mean, you could argue about the timing whether it should have been done a few days before.

BASH: I want to ask about something that President-elect Biden said this week. He said, the darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us. Dr. Fauci, as you know, over 100,000 of our fellow Americans spent their holiday hospitalized with COVID-19 and we are averaging nearly 200,000 new cases, more than 2,000 deaths each day. Do you agree that the worst is still yet to come?

FAUCI: You know, I do Dana, and the reason I am concerned and my colleagues in public health are concerned also, is that we very well might see a post seasonal in the sense of Christmas-New Year surge. And as I've described it as a surge upon a surge.

Because if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we have experienced as we've gone into the late fall and soon to be early winter, it really is quite troubling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:14:57]

HOLMES (on camera): Now, we are learning more about the Nashville bombing on Christmas morning. Investigators say they know who did it, but they are still trying to figure out why. We will have the latest for you when we come back.

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HOLMES (on camera): We are getting more information about the car bomb that exploded in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning. What you're seeing there is video police released today showing the moment of the blast when that RV exploded in the street. Dramatic stuff.

It was just seconds after a police officer actually had just walked out of frame in that video to safety. Investigators tell us what they want -- what they know about the bombing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD COCHRAN, U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE: Based on the evidence that we've gathered at this point, we've come to the conclusion that an individual named Anthony Warner is the bomber. He was present when the bomb went off and that he perished in the bombing. We based this conclusion on forensic evidence including DNA evidence that you'll hear about, as well as evidence that was gathered at the scene of the bombing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:19:56]

HOLMES (on camera): And we are hearing from the officers who were first to arrive on the scene before the blast. They say the RV had cameras and all of its windows were covered from the inside. Now, we know a computerized voice in the RV was broadcasting an evacuation warning, but police have added (inaudible) detail.

They say it was also playing the Petula Clark song "Downtown." They still (inaudible) don't know about the Nashville bombing. Shimon Prokupecz tells us what they're working on.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Authorities here in Nashville today confirming the identity of the bomber. His name is Anthony Quinn Warner. Officials say he is 63 years old and they believe that he is the man who planted the bomb in that RV. He is the man behind the bombing here.

Now, as to motive, authorities say it's not clear yet. They are still trying to pour through all of this man's life, go back in his history, talk to family members through his history, talk to family members, and people that knew him. They say there was a lot is going on in his life, but in terms of a clear motive as to what happened here and why this happened, they still don't have.

And what authorities here did was they used DNA. They found human tissue at the site. They then got DNA from his family and they used all of that to make the identification. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.

HOLMES: Now, CNN law enforcement analyst, Peter Licata, joins me now from New York. He is a former supervisory special agent with the FBI and the former FBI lead bomb technician. Just the man for this conversation. We know who the alleged bomber is now, a neighbor described him as a loner. A former employer said, essentially, a nice guy.

You know, what will investigators be looking at in terms of his mental state or what led him to do this? Police were asked about reports of 5G technology paranoia, but police didn't confirm anything. What are they going to be looking at?

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: Good morning, Michael. What the police are doing right now is they are still processing this crime scene which was quite large. The crime scene will still be processed. They're going to be taking deep dives into Warner's social media accounts.

They will be pulling every cell phone he owns, every computer, every hard drive that he has access to. They're going to be pulling his social media, tracking his websites, looking at his phone calls, and see who he was potentially in contact with.

And then, also to see what websites or what postings he had on social media to understand what his ideology was, if any, and what his motive was to conduct this attack.

HOLMES: Public records show that he was issued an explosive user permits handler license back in November 2013 that expired in 2016. So, we can presume some sort of knowledge of explosives, but you're the expert. I mean, how easily is it to make a bomb of this size with what are fairly easily obtained materials?

LICATA: Well, in the United States, commercial and military explosives are very well-regulated. So, not saying he didn't have access to those, but they are very well-regulated considering his license expired some seven years ago.

However, improvised or homemade explosives are very easy to procure and are really the explosive of any criminal's choice because the precursor materials are easy to get, whether on the internet or at retailers, and in general, it's pretty simple chemistry in order to make some of these explosive mixtures.

HOLMES: And so what pieces of the puzzle are most important then for investigators to put together now? The makeup of the bomb, obviously, but I guess, motivation is key because if we don't know why he did this, we're kind of stuck, aren't we?

LICATA: Agreed. So, obviously, the makeup of the bomb -- the forensics don't end just because we know who the main subject is. So the forensics are going to continue to develop any leads to confirm that he in fact, was the sole producer, manufacturer, of this device and the only culprit involved in it.

So, along with that, it's just going to be confirming that no one corroborated with him, collaborated with him on this effort, no one pushed him forward to increase his motivation, whatever his motivation ended up being, to perform as this catastrophic act.

HOLMES: The FBI confirmed threats against infrastructure early this month, unrelated to this, but apparently, related to the election in some way. Now, obviously, we don't have that political connection. In this case, we'll know about it.

But the thing that is interesting, if it is shown that the AT&T facility was the target and this vehicle was parked right up in front of it, does that show any sort of weakness in infrastructure protection? Is that a bit of a warning sign because there was sort of damage in terms of, you know, the cell phone coverage and stuff like that.

[02:24:55]

LICATA: Infrastructure has always been a focus of law enforcement and corporate security. It has been since prior to September 11, 2011 when terrorism really hit the United States. There was a boost in the way infrastructure from utility companies to communication systems to switches are maintained and manages, obviously to airports.

So, those things have always been considered a target by terrorist groups or just any other group. So, in this case, Mr. Warner. So, those things are always considered to be a target. So, security has always been very heavy whether it's CCTV, whether it's a hardened infrastructure, all different means to try to protect that. But it will always be a target and something that law enforcement and corporate security need to consider.

HOLMES: You know, you're well-practiced in this sort of, you know, field, but you know, it just strikes me that, and it's worrying in some ways, it's not that hard to do this kind of thing.

LICATA: Unfortunately, it's not. There's way too much information out there on the internet that just lead people down these paths.

HOLMES: Yes. If you have the right motivation. Peter Licata, fascinating to talk to you. Thanks so much. Appreciate your expertise.

LICATA: Thank you.

HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, the European Union launching a COVID vaccination campaign with the first doses happening all over Europe now including in the former epicenter of the pandemic. We'll be live from the region after the break.

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[02:29:56]

HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I am Michael Holmes. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." An independent Chinese journalist who had documented the COVID outbreak in Wuhan early in the pandemic has been sentenced to four years in jail. Zhang Zhan was at traveled to Wuhan in February, just as authorities began raining in state media, and private media, from reporting on it all. But she disappeared in May, and then was later revealed to have been detained by police in Shanghai. Selina Wang is live from Tokyo with the latest on this story. I mean she is not the only one, but a worrying trend, almost.

SELINA WANG, CNN NEWS INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Zhang Zhan is actually a Former Lawyer, and she has been charged with, "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". Michael this is a broad offense that is commonly used to target journalists, and human right activists in China. And her reports had been widely shared on social media during the beginning of the pandemic, when she had gone to Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, in February. They then suddenly stopped in May, and it was later revealed that she was detained in Shanghai.

As you say she is the first citizen journalist that we know of to be sentenced for her role in reporting on the pandemic, but we know of a number of independent journalists who have been detained, or have disappeared since the start of the pandemic. For instance, who had been live streaming critical videos of the pandemic? He then disappeared, and is now reported to be under, "state surveillance". This all comes in tandem with China clamping down on media coverage of the pandemic and state media going into overdrive too aggressively portrayed Beijing's response as both effective, and timely.

And I want to bring up this quote by the Hong Kong-based Chinese human rights defenders group that put it this way. "Under the guise of fighting the novel coronavirus, authorities from China have escalated suppression online by blocking independent reporting, information sharing, and critical comments on government responses". Now, according to reporters without borders, China is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world, it tightly controls press at home, it also bars much from media through its great firewall, and censorship apparatus.

Now China has, for some context here, largely brought the pandemic under control, despite the sporadic outbreaks that we spoke about earlier. But despite this and life going back to normal for much of China, the government has not lessened it's control of the press in fact, we are also even now also seeing state media aggressively push this alternative narratives, saying that coronavirus was circulating before the initial outbreak in Wuhan. Michael?

HOLMES: Yes. Extraordinary, isn't it? Selina, thanks for keeping on top of that, Selina Wang in Tokyo for us. Now the European Union kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Sunday, days after approving the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, and some of the various doses began in Milan in Italy, once, of course, that country, the epicenter of the pandemic after China. And Spain began its first vaccinations as well, after receiving the first shipment of 350,000 doses. And journalist Al Goodman is live for us in Madrid, so how does it all going to roll out? Certainly nursing homes pretty please this is happening?

AL GOODMAN, CNN NEWS INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michael. Well, it starts with the Spanish government early today, has announced there was a one day delay in the 2nd batch of doses. The Spanish government sending out a statement just before 1:00 a.m. local time here in Madrid to say that Pfizer Spain told the Spanish government, late in the evening, that the Pfizer factory in Belgium was having a problem loading, and shipping out the next doses to Spain, and seven other European countries.

Madrid didn't say, which are the seven other countries, but we are checking on that at CNN right now. And this means that instead of getting 50,000 doses, nearly 50,000 doses this Monday from Pfizer in Europe, they're going to have to wait until Tuesday, so a one day delay coming on the hill of what was a very as you say a very optimistic day on Sunday, when the first vaccinations occurred here, in Spain and across the European union but a much smaller amount, just about 9700 doses issued all across the country, so just a sort of testimonial. The very first person in Spain to get those vaccinations, and 6-year-old woman at a nursing home about an hour east of Madrid near the Pfizer loading the facility in Spain, say that she hopes it will chase this coronavirus away.

And according to Johns Hopkins University, Michael, which is has been tracking the numbers globally. Spain has the unfortunate position to be in one of the top 10 countries, worldwide, in terms of cases, more than 1.8 million cases in Spain, and also in deaths 50,000 deaths. So the vaccination, finally arriving in the European Union a real jolt of hope here for the people, starting with the elderly.

[02:35:00]

Who were among the various hardest hit in nursing homes, like this one behind me will be going in shortly to talk to people who got the vaccination here, on Sunday. Back to Michael.

HOLMES: All right, Al. Good to see you. Thanks for that, Al Goodman there in Madrid. Now we are just over a week away from a crucial runoff election, where control of the U.S. senate is at stake. We will have the latest from the campaign trail in Georgia, coming up next.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. President Trump signature on the COVID relief bill removes one political stumbling block for Georgia's two Republican Senators, running in next week's runoff, David Perdue, and Kelly Loeffler, praise the President for approving the aid. Both have voted for the package and never said whether they backed President Trump's last minute call for higher direct payments to Americans. The president surprise moves oppose a challenged for both Purdue and Loeffler on the campaign trail in this pivotal election. Ryan Nobles reports.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NEWS INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just a little more than one week to go before the final votes are cast in the Georgia senate runoff and there is a lot at stake both for Republicans and Democrats are hoping they can hold on to at least one of the seats. And if they do, they will retain the majority in the United States senate. But it hasn't been easy. Republicans are running as close as they can to President Trump, but he does continue to throw both Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, curveballs.

The most obvious being that the presidents of waffling on the coronavirus relief package. Of course that big omnibus spending bill which both Purdue and Loeffler voted for and promoted. Trump, also not deciding I should say to veto the National Defense Authorization Act that's something that both Purdue and Loeffler voted for. And then of course, Trump continues to so doubt in misinformation, about the voting system in Georgia.

[02:40:00]

While at the same time as Purdue and Loeffler begging his supporters to come out and vote. Now on the Democrats side, you have John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the two of them, really putting a focus on coronavirus in their relief package in general. Ossoff, quickly, said he believed that he believe that the President was right, for once, about the amount of money that should be in these direct payments. He endorsed the increasing the amount from $600 to $2000, Rafael Warnock the Democrats as well, saying the same thing. We have seen kind of a bit of quiet on the campaign trail over the holiday season that is expected to change starting this week.

Monday, leading right up through this final week of campaigning, all 4 campaigns expected to be out and about, across the State of Georgia, and of course, hundreds of millions of dollars being spent as well. The campaign is approaching the $500 million mark in combined ad spending as we await the final results here on January 5th. Ryan Nobles, CNN, Washington.

HOLMES: Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom, I am Michael Holmes for our international viewers, world sport is coming up next. For everyone else, those stick around news continues after a quick break. I will be right back.

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[02:45:00]

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HOLMES: Welcome back. If you want to see what could happen in your town as coronavirus cases soar, just take a look at California. 2 million cases there. Now, right now the state is reporting some of the highest new daily case numbers per capita in the entire U.S. more than 20,000 coronavirus patients are in U.S. hospitals right now and those hospitals running out of room to care the patients, even the sickest ones.

In fact, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California Regions both have no more room for new patients in their intensive care units. California Health Officials say if people don't stay home for New Year's well, things could deteriorate quickly and resources could run out, Paul Vercammen with more.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN NEWS INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michael, here in California, the Blair of Sirens here at Huntington hospital in Pasadena, 189 patients in the hospital with COVID-19. They've even set up surge tents to accommodate other patients with other problems and keep them away from the COVID-19 patients in all, 20,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals in California. And something of concern here, if there is a tidal wave of cases after New Year's Eve, top officials at this hospital say they may have to ration health care.

DR. KIMBERLEY SHRINER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Indeed that's what we may have to do. That's really the ultimate triage. We have a limited number of ventilators. We have a limited number of ICU beds. We have a limited number of plastic tubing for oxygen tanks. And so, a lot of those decisions, if we get to that point - we're not there yet, but if we did, we're going to have to make those decisions. And again that's a decision that no physician or nurse or anyone wants to ever have to make about anything.

VERCAMMEN: They call that practice of deciding who gets what type of health care they call it Scarce Resource Policy. And Dr. Shriner after all knows all about it, the Infectious Disease Expert also served in Africa in the fight against HIV. Now they are just crossing their fingers and hoping that Californians pay attention to smart social distancing and don't get out of control by not wearing masks or by getting together for large gatherings during the New Year's holiday. I'm Paul Vercammen, reporting from Pasadena. Now back to you, Michael.

HOLMES: Now, with the U.S. recording more than 19 million COVID cases, by far the most in the world, public health experts, they're still trying to get through to many Americans who just are not following the guidelines, whether it's COVID fatigue or denial or just plain stubbornness, the struggle to get people to stay home and mask up and even wash their hands is as real as ever. The top U.S. expert on Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci says he believes the worst of the pandemic is still to come. Meanwhile we're in danger of a holiday surge upon surge.

Beth Prusaczyk, Teachers at Washington University School of Medicine Institute for Informatics and Center for Population Health Informatics and joins me now from St. Louis. And you do so because this article you wrote was so fascinating about how even your own friends and family take unnecessary risks despite your professional advice. As a medical professional, that must be intensely frustrating.

BETH PRUSACZYK, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes, it's interestingly not only frustrating. That's not a situation I thought I would find myself in, and I wrote the piece to give voice to that because I had seen medical professionals, frontline workers writing things and posting videos asking the public to take precautions. And here I was somebody whose professional career is how do we disseminate public health information to the public, and I couldn't get my own friends and family to follow the guidelines.

And so, I wanted to give voice to that piece. And I thought there are a few people out there who will recognize this experience. I was overwhelmed with how many people emailed me and messaged me after the piece went up and expressed the same sentiment.

HOLMES: Yes, because as you're saying and it's important, you literally research how to implement public health practices with the public. I mean the facts of COVID are glaring. They should be terrifying to people, and yet there is such a sizable slice of American society who somehow either rejects the science or feel it's just not going to happen to them. What do you make of the psychology of that?

PRUSACZYK: Yes. I think the important thing to think about and remember is that it's not a one size fits all reason for not following the guidelines. And it's also not black and white people don't either follow them 100% or not at all. There's a lot of people who follow some, not others, follow them some of the time but not all of the time.

[02:50:00]

And the reasons for that are very variable. So, you have folks who, of course, believe it's a hoax and feel that any - taking any precaution is an infringement on their rights.

You have people who just are frustrated with how long this has gone on and just can't take it anymore. You have, as you said, people who don't think it's going to happen to them. And then you have people who are willing to accept the risk because they are willing to have it happen to them. They are willing to get COVID if it means they can still go and dine out at restaurants or visit family. And they don't realize that their risks are impacting others, that we are all literally connected.

HOLMES: I had a doctor on a couple of days ago who used that that "one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic". I mean do you think a lot of people just don't comprehend the enormity of what is still unfolding and the risks they take by not taking it seriously? Are too many people getting numb?

PRUSACZYK: Absolutely. I think there's a huge part of that, that people just really don't fathom the magnitude of this. I know as somebody, like myself, who understands statistics and math and knows the magnitude of these numbers, I still find the numbers hitting me in different ways, I mean the statistic that came out that 1 in 1,000 Americans have died, 9/11 is happening every day. Different ways to frame the statistics hits people in a different way, and I think that's a really important health communication tool that we have is to phrase things in different ways to reach different people.

But beyond that, I think people have - they had to have been impacted from the get go to now be numb to it. And I do think there's a certain group and proportion of this society that was never sort of moved by the numbers. They weren't moved when it started and they're not going to be moved now. And I don't know how we actually get those individuals to care.

HOLMES: Yes, yes. I've met a few of those. I mean I was curious, just finally what about the emotional toll on you personally? I mean you're seeing the real world impacts of COVID in your job. And then the added stress of seeing family, friends ignore the risks. I mean what does that do to you? And do you fear any lasting damage to your relationships once this is all over?

PRUSACZYK: Yes. It's been an emotional roller coaster, as most people have been on in the last ten months. And I - I think it's just one more frustration in a very frustrating year. And I think my relationships will be able to be mended, but we've never gone through something like this before, so I don't know what this will look like on the other side. And I wrote that in the piece that I don't know how we move forward after this when we're so divided and we're seeing sides of people we've never seen before.

So when I'm seeing this frustration and hopelessness and helplessness, I do try and find ways to be helpful and to channel that frustration, such as writing. I'll be going on Thursday up to Washington University to volunteer to help administer the vaccine. That's giving me great hope that we're starting to turn the corner.

So, it's frustrating and as helpless as I have felt, I'm trying to find outlets to try and at least help somebody in this piece. As I said, I got such an overwhelming response that and people thanking me that I've given voice to something they were experiencing too. It makes me feel really good in a weird way that I wasn't alone in this frustration and helplessness.

HOLMES: Yes. It resonated with me. I urge people to read it. It's on "The Huffington Post" Beth Prusaczyk thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

PRUSACZYK: Thank you. Appreciate it.

HOLMES: Yes. Among the many things that changed in 2020 was of course the vast number of people working from home. With millions around the world settled in to their new work environment now for months, could it become the norm? Anna Stewart takes a look.

ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the year, working home went main stream right around the world. This was a how to work from home video that I made all the way back in March. I thought this might be the way of things for a couple of months. Wow, did I get that wrong?

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STEWART: As we reach the end of 2020, many of us haven't returned to the office. We're still on Zoom, Skype, Webex, Slack. While video conference fatigue has set in for some, others are happy with this new way of working. Twitter is one company that's embraced the change and is allowing some employees to choose to work from home permanently.

JENNIFER CHRISTIE, CHIEF HR OFFICER, TWITTER: Over 80% of our employees working four or five days in the office, so pretty much full-time in the office and one very small percentage, single digits of people who are working full-time remote. And that's almost flipped. We've done these surveys, coming back out of it, we have in the single digits people who want to spend four or five days in the office and much more in terms of - almost a third of our work force want to be actually full-time remote. Actually productivity has remained pretty steady, but people's perception is increasing as they figure this out.

[02:55:00]

STEWART: Productivity is critical. 90% of workers said that in the U.K. say they would like to continue working from home often or all the time. However, only 70% felt they were as productive or more so.

ALAN FELSTEAD, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PROFESSOR: I think when we move into more hybrid forms of working that people do actually work a lot more at home than they used to be before the pandemic. So, it has ushered in a major change, I think, in the landscape in terms of how we work, where we work.

STEWART: The shift to remote has had a devastating impact on local economies. Cafes, bars and shops are reliant on office workers who may never go back to their offices from 9:00 to 5:00 five days a week. Companies could reduce their office space or give up expensive leases altogether.

KEN RAISBECK, CBRE, HEAD OF OCCUPIER CONSULTING: Are people choosing to work from home perhaps two, maybe three days a week. That still would be the requirement offers. But people will come into it for a different reason.

STEWART: The great work-from-home experiment has sparked long term change in the way that we work. But it isn't for everyone, whether it's unsuitable home environments, noisy children or in my case, wayward pets, some of us will be hoping to get back to the office in 2021.

HOLMES: Anna Stewart there. And the cat is Jeremy, by the way. I happen to know that. Thanks for watching "CNN Newsroom" everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Cat lover (inaudible) will have more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment. Stay with us.

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